"It was a victory for the Americans but it was England who will draw the greatest encouragement from the game." - The Telegraph.

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Ricardo Clark. The midfielder went down with an apparent hamstring injury late in the Americans 3-1 win over Australia on Saturday, but a U.S. Soccer spokesman indicated that Clark was merely suffering from cramps

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Australia blamed the field for their loss on Saturday, but it was THEIR home training base. So they can stop talking about that now. And they can stop with the Bruce Arena crap too. He never said they were one of the WEAKEST to qualify for the 06 tourney, he said they were one of the LAST to qualify. Get it straight.

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Both teams complained about the ball too. Again, shut up and play.

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Clint Dempsey can be held mostly responsible for the Aussie goal and he let his mark Tim Cahill slide right past him with no effort to the back post, and then Steve Cherundolo covering the post did his best Mike Burns by not helping his keeper out at all.

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The USA defense was terrifyingly bad for most of the game. If they play like that against England, and England is on there game they could score 7 or 8. I am very nervous.

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One way to cut down on free kick situations is to not make so many stupid fouls near their own penalty area.

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Many have said that in an official match Clint Dempsey & Craig Moore would probably have both been sent off for their macho head to head shoving and yelling after a poor tackle by Moore.

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du Nord Three Star of the Game

3. Steve Cherundolo - great stuff pushing forward up the right side, and working in tandom with Lanodn Donovan (who did not make the list for the first time in ages), should start against England no question about it.2. Clint Dempsey - the hardest working man in showbiz got unlucky not to have scored, and forced the Aussies to try and kill him several times to slow him down. His big flaw though was the marking that cost a goal.1. Edson Buddle - two very smart goals, and lots of good time on the ball giving his teammates time to get into the play. A nearly perfect game from him.

England-England will use their starting 11 on Monday in a scrimmage against local club team Platinum Stars.-The NY Daily News says the USA has no way to stop Wayne Rooney. You have to love the pure arrogance of something like this. It's quite funny. Don't be offended.

But lets go back to last fall, and listen again to that now world famous radio call as they qualified for the World Cup, when the USA tied Costa Rica in the final seconds of the last round of CONCACAF qualifiers. Glorious! One of the greatest things I have ever heard in my life.

WORLD CUP 2010 - SOUTH AFRICA

John Obi Mikel of Nigeria has not recovered from a knee injury he suffered during the Chelsea season and has been left off the Nigeria team.

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Dutch star winger Arjen Robben suffered a hamstring tweak in a friendly. No word on the severity.

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Andre Pirlo of Italy has a calf injury that will be evaluated in the next few days.

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Tim Cahill of Australia has a neck strain.

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20 people were injured in a stampede at a free friendly between Nigeria and North Korea in Makhulong. The even sadder news is that initially the gates were opened causing a stampede, then gates were closed again, but when they re-opened the same thing happened. Just awful.

How bummed would Canadians be when Kansas City Wizards forward Teal Bunbury chooses the country he grew up in, USA, over the country he was born in?-Toronto Globe & Mail: Bunbury has represented Canada at the U17 & U20 level. He is eligible to play for the U.S. but says he's “not thinking too much about it. If it does come into play, I'll make my decision then. But right now the best thing I can do is focus on Kansas City. I know I'm getting experience, but I want to start putting up some goals and assists.”

STORY OF THE DAY

Who is the biggest surprise in MLS as we get oh so close to the World Cup break? Colorado! Yes, the Rapids. can you believe that. They sit at 19 points which is 3rd place in the really strong Western conference, and on a run of 3 consecutive 1-0 wins. Who saw this at the beginning of the season?

DC fullback Rodney Wallace suffered a broken leg after getting kicked and will be out up to 2 months.

DU NORD PLAYER OF THE WEEK

This was fun, LA right fullback Sean Franklin had two of the best crosses for goals to Jovan Kirovski that you will ever see. So for that they share the award. They made it look waaaay too easy, but they were really the reward for a long series of great passes that broke down the defense. Goal one - and - goal two.

MY THOUGHTS

It was a joy to see Jaime Moreno in stands with DC the faithful, banging on a drum and singing at the top of his lungs. Check it out. And here is a snap shot off my TV:

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DC v RSL was pretty damn worthless viewing. It was one of the worst MLS games I have seen in a long time. Not only were there almost no chances on goal, but neither team even got worked up enough to earn a card.

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LA just pulverized Houston 4-1. They are approaching best all time team right now, and are doing it without the stars. Amazing. Too bad they gave up a goal. Hahahaha. That makes it 3 this season!

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On that goal we got a freak play were a collision lead to the ball boucning off the thigh of Houston's Cam Weaver and into the net.-But Weaver paid a heavy price as the boot of LA keeper Donovan Ricketts went right into his chest and took him completely off his feet. That must have really really hurt.

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The LA TV guys said the Galaxy are 120-6-11 all time when leading at half time. Impressive.

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Houston has stopped their win/loss yo-you routine finally, but its the wrong direction. They have now lost 3 in a row.

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For the first time in his MLS career, Dynamo keeper Pat Onstad is looking pretty bad. They may want to give him a rest mentally and physically. And their back 4 is not helping Onstad either.

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Dallas may not have had a big crowd, but comparatively I can live with 14,000. Good job, kinda.

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David Ferreira of FC Dallas's play all season has been fantastic, but the way he took San Jose apart and set up two goals for teammate Brek Shea was a thing of beauty. Not to take anything away from all of Shea's great skill and effort on #2.

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The Toronto announcers acted like they were shocked when Nick Garcia got a Red Card for putting the bottom of his cleats into the knee and thigh of Kei Kamara. Are they that big of homers? Garcia is a goon. And it was a totally deserved ejection. He knew exactly what he was doing, and was hoping to get away with it. Maybe I am wrong, but you watch this and tell me it isn't an obvious red.

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KC midfielder Craig Rocastle has caught my attention 3 or 4 times now this season, and I have come to this conclusion - He is not a soccer player. He is a bouncer.

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And from what I can tell, KC coach Peter Vermes is in waaaaaaaay over his head at this point. He is the GM and coach and both have been poor in 2010. Most of those dozen off season signings are on the bench, and his tactics look odd at best. He subbed one fullback for another at halftime, and neither was good or bad, just a completely wasted sub. And he still doesn't seem to get that Josh Wolff is a poacher, not a provider. He has to be up top, or off the field.

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The #1 overall draft pick Danny Mwanga has not looked all that impressive, but he has scored in 3 straight games. That is impressive.

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Seattle's three goal blitz on New England was beyond impressive. It left the Revs outclassed by several miles. And all three goal scorers seemed to be trying to top the others for Goal of the Week honors!-Check em out - Gonzalez - Zakuani - Montero.

I could not disagree more. It's a matter of priority. The USA started their push the same time as all the other major countries pushed the women's game and the USA had completely dominated for several decades now. Give the men's game time, it has come a long way in 20 years.

NORWAY - EliteserienMikkel Diskerud - Stabaek - Sun Jun 6 - went the distance as they tied 1-1 at Sandeford.Di Vita Jensen - Honefoss - Sun Jun 6 - came on as a sub in the 76th minute but they lost 1-0 at Odd.NOTE: After this round the league is on break until the Jul 4 weekend.

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Coming Up: (all possible players are listed)

NORWAY - EliteserienHunter Freeman - Start - Next: Mon Jun 7 v VikingNOTE: After this round the league is on break until the Jul 4 weekend.

Man, that is harsh on Ching if true. If I was there I'd probably join right in, but from a little distance, that is really cold. He'll always be a Sounders reject to me though.

One thing that struck me watching the US/Australia match with the Dempsey/Moore incident and this note: Many have said that in an official match Clint Dempsey & Craig Moore would probably have both been sent off for their macho head to head shoving and yelling after a poor tackle by Moore.

I agree with "Many" that often they would be likely to have been sent off. But why? Was there anything whatsoever in that little incident that really warrants sending off either player? There was nothing really violent about any of the conduct. A yellow for both should be plenty of punishment.

The problem is that what usually happens is 2 players jaw and shove and whatever, and then one guy falls to the ground holding his face. Which thankfully didn't happen in this case. But when it does, the guy who falls down should be given a 2nd yellow for embellishment and sent off.